Siblings are happy to be together again in home of their grandmother

Kylie Lipetzky, 16, recently returned home to Minnesota and has been reunited with her siblings and her grandmother, Maxine Walter, in Springfield.

Samantha, 9, and Caden, 7, are happy to have their big sister back.  

Caden says his prayers have been answered.  “Every evening he would say a prayer for Kylie,” hoping that she would come to live with them again, said his grandmother.   “Caden has the biggest smile all the time now! He’s as happy as he can be!”

Kylie was pleasantly surprised and very pleased with the welcome she received upon her arrival in Springfield the afternoon of August 13.   A banner on the garage at the Walter home proclaimed “Welcome Home” and colorful balloons bobbed in the breeze.   The party was arranged by neighbors, Jody Nachreiner and Scott Dauer, and Don and Darlene Wilstermann. “It was really good to see my family and friends — some I hadn’t seen for years,” Kylie said.   “There was lots of food. It was like a graduation party.”  “It was perfect,” added her grandmother.  “We had a bonfire going, we sat outside until quite late and we had a really good time.”  During the days following, many visitors —  neighbors, cousins, relatives and young women and men in Kylie’s class at school — came to welcome her. 

Following the death of Kylie’s mother June 13, 2011, Samantha and Caden came to live with their grandmother. Kylie went to live with her father and stepmother in Georgia and, most recently, in Wamego, Kansas; and during the past five months with foster parents in Wamego.  “I never wanted to leave,” she said. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Now when I look at things, I think before my Mom died and after, and before I was in foster care and after,” Kylie said.  “My life is different now.  I’m so happy we are together again.”